My 1993 XM 2.1 SD Auto L322 VCV

[CitroJim]

She's looking really good Graeme

Intrigued by the neighbour's drive. Is it well above yours or do they have one of those car stackers so they can keep two on the drive one above the other?

[Aerodynamica]

Haha Jim that would be efficiency! But no, its just the lay of the land - bit of a steep street.

[mds141]

A very nice looking XM Graeme.

[Aerodynamica]

Thanks Mark, well, I now have LHM leaks!

One is semi easy to fix but the other looks like a right nightmare..

The rattling exhaust is doing my head in! it turns out that the tail pipe is rattling on part of the aftermarket tow bar and not the rear cross member as I had thought. I'm half tempted to remove the tow bar but it's some substantial thing with twin electrics.

The alarming observation I noted about it was that there's a thick green wire runs from the engine area along the hydraulic pipe guides on the underside then is routed up through the boot floor and then travels under the carpet to somewhere. I think it's for the tow bar electrics but not confirmed. It turns out that it is routed under the rear subframe cross member and the anti roll bar, right after this it goes up through the boot floor but is seems it has been rubbing on the anti roll bar and has worn away the paint on a little bit of the ARB. Installed by thickos yes, but when I finally traced the source of the wire it turns out to be connected directly to the battery positive! Yay! so there's a lovely fire hazard waiting to happen. What the hell is it anyway? why would the tow bar sockets need a live feed when they are only parallel branched off the back lights?

I am seriously tempted to remove the whole assembly as it appears to be growing trouble.

[Dieselman]

That heavy feed is for the secondary electric socket...to feed a fridge and charge the battery in a carottyvan

[CitroJim]

Gosh Graeme, it's lucky that it's not already chafed through and caused serious mischief...

Seen it happen with nasty consequences several times. Once I saw what happened when a feed to a boom-box in the boot shorted. It very nearly set fire to the whole interior of the car and a deep scorch mark was forever visible in interior for the whole length of the burned cable..

Many years ago I used to fit tow-bars as a sideline and the 12S feed was always a tricky one to run but I always ensured it was fully fused and run as well and as carefully as possible.

What of the LHM leaks? Where and how bad?

Or have I missed that during my recent forum absence?

[Aerodynamica]

Well the tow bar is off. Big heavy thing I'll never use so now have nice neat rear bumper albeit with a notch cut in the centre of the lower black trim. The LHM leak is still a mystery from the PAS ram - still not found where it's leaking exactly.
MOT on Monday so I expect LHM leaks to be one of several fail points including a rust hole, front ball joints and maybe a headlight reflector. One advisory on last MOT was "wear at drag link balljoint" but since the Xm isn't a 4x4, I didn't think it had a drag link....

[Dieselman]

It doesn't have a drag link, but the tester may be using a generic term and may meant the inner joint.

[robert_e_smart]

Eugh, mots. I have 2 more on Monday, bx and xantia which should pass all being well. Here's a dangerous idea Graeme. Weld your car, was the underside with as pressure washer, namely the rack and it may well pass.

[Aerodynamica]

Haha Robert that ' wet underside' trick worked for the CX once.. But I'm off welding so gonna get a guy to quote the job. May still dø it if it's too costly. I think the inner track rod joints are worn so might be that. Well should know on Monday! Not overly rushed because the xantia has a looking MOT and I'm not driving to work any more. So bring it on MOT!